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John Francis Hodgkess Roper (1935-)                                          Born 10 September 1935 Norwich, Norfolk                            Educated William Hulme Grammar School Manchester; Reading School; Magdalen College Oxford; University of Chicago              MP Farnworth 1970-1981 (Labour), 1981-1983 (SDP)                 Defected to Social Democrats in 1981. Became SDP Chief Whip 1981-83.                                                                    Created Baron Roper 12 May 2000. Privy Councillor 2005.

 

Dr Alastair Ian Ross (1912-1996)                                                Doctor and Public Health Administrator                                   Born 5 February 1912 Inverness, Scotland                                 Died 14 December 1996 Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire              Educated Edinburgh University                                                  Distinguished career as Medical Officer for Health for Bolton 1959-1974. Earlier worked as Deputy Medical Officer in Leicester.          The Alastair Ross Health Centre in Breightmet, Bolton is named after him.

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Rostando (-1970)                                                                    Spanish juggler                                                                      Died 1970 Germany                                                   Rostando was the stage name of José Perez, a Spanish juggler who had originally been a part of his family’s famous restaurant juggling act, The Perezoffs. The Perezoffs, also known as the Charles Perezoff Company, were started by brothers Charles, José, and Francisco Perez in 1904.                                                                   He played the Grand Theatre, Bolton for the week commencing 10 Oct 1949

 

Commodore Sir Arthur Henry Rostron(1869-1940)                        Mariner                                                                                 Born 14 May 1869 Blackburn Road, Astley Bridge, Bolton             Died 4 November 1940  Chippenham, Wiltshire      Educated Bolton High School; Bolton Church Institute                                   Captain of Carpathia - Rescued survivors of the Titanic disaster.  Awarded Congressional Gold Medal of Honour by US President Taft.                                                                                Later became captain of Cunard flagship 'Mauritania' and Commodore of the Cunard Line. Knighted 1926.

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Matthew Rotherham MBE (1994-)                

British male track cyclist

Born 7 Dec 1994 in Bolton.                                                  He piloted Neil Fachie of Scotland to gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games    

He won the time trial Championship at the 2019 British National Track Championships

 

Edward Hardy Rothwell (-1845)                                                Cotton Mill owner                                                                    Died 15 December 1845                                                        He died in the explosion of a Waggon-type steam boiler.at Rothwell & Kitts’ Newtown Mill, Black Horse Street, Bolton

 

Peter Rothwell (1792-1849)                                                    Engineer and Businessman                                                 Born October 1792 Bolton                                                     Died 27 February 1849 Glasgow, Scotland                               Invented variable blast pipe 1839 - part of development of early rail locomotives. Partner in locomotive manufacturers Rothwell, Hick & Rothwell at Union Foundry, Bolton. A promoter of the Bolton & Leigh Railway which opened in 1838.

 

Richard Rainshaw (Marquis De Rothwell) Rothwell(1809-1890)       Lawyer, Landowner and Philanthropist                                    Born 1809 Preston, Lancashire                                                   Died 1890 London                                                                 Educated Oxford                                                                   Lived at Sharples Hall, Bolton.                                                 1860 gave £2000 to charitable institutions in Turin, Sardinia - created Count De Rothwell by Victor Emmanuel II, King of Sardinia (later King of Italy.)                                                                   1861 created 'Marquis' by Charles III, Prince of Monaco.

 

Selim Rothwell (1815-1881)                                                Painter                                                                                Born 1815 Bolton                                                                  Died 10 August 1881 Bolton                                                   Educated Bolton Grammar School; Bolton Mechanics Institute.        Undertook mostly architectural studies - climbed to the top of a 366 ft factory chimney for panoramic painting of Bolton in 1842.          Designed memorial to Benjamin Hick in Bolton Parish Church.         Secretary of Manchester Academy of Fine Arts.

 

Joshua Routledge  (1773-1829)                                                 Engineer                                                                              Born 1773                                                                            Died 8 February 1829 Warsaw, Poland                            Invented the Engineer's Slide Rule 1810 and also a rotary engine.   Ironmonger in Deansgate 1814-20 - later moved to Bury and later became manager of the engineering department for at Ridgways Bleachers at Horwich.

 

Guy Rowson (1883-1937)                                                     1883 Ellenbrook, Lancashire                                                     1937 16 November 1937 Wigan, Lancashire                            MP Farnworth 1929-1931 & 1935-1937 (Labour)                 Union official, Lancashire and Cheshire Miners Federation. Member of Tyldsley District Council 1919-22. Lancashire County Councillor 1919-25. JP from 1932.

 

Bert Royal                                                                             Professional Wrestler                                                                Born 5 December ? Bolton  

Ss Peter and Paul's RC School, Bolton                                         Brother of Vic Faulkner and son of Lewis Faulkner. Real name Herbert Faulkner.                                                              British Middleweight Wrestling Champion in 1960 and European Heavy Middleweight Champion in 1962

 

Albert Samuel Royse (1915-1996)                                             Politician                                                                                Born 28 April 1915 6 Uganda Street, Morris Green, Bolton           Died 18 October 1996 112 Highfield Road, Farnworth.               Educated Deane C of E Primary School; Bolton Municipal Secondary School

Mayor of Farnworth 1960 (Conservative).                                    JP. Awarded MBE for political and public service in Farnworth 13th June 1959.                                                                        He was Financial Director at John Booth's Hulton Steel Works Bolton where he worked for over 50 years.

 

David L Ruffley (1962-)                                                             Politician                                                                              Born 18 April 1962 Bolton                                            Educated Bolton School; Queen's College, Cambridge                   MP Bury St Edmunds 1997- (Conservative)

 

Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, KG, PC, FRS (1619-1682)                                                                      German-English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor.                                                                           Born 17 December 1619 (O.S.) /27 December (N.S)               The third son of the German prince Frederick V of the Palatinate and Elizabeth, eldest daughter of James VI of Scotland and I of England. Died  29 November 1682)                                                  He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalry commander during the English Civil War.

 

Frank Rushton (1906-1975)                                            Cricketer                                                                            Born 21 April 1906 Bolton                                                       Died 15 October 1975 Bolton

Played for Lancashire 1928-29                                            Father of Frank Alan Rushton, Mayor of Bolton 1995-96.

 

Frank Alan Rushton (1934-)                                            Politician                                                                              Born 1934 Bolton                                                            Mayor of Bolton 1995 (Conservative).                                 Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Salford College of Technology and Salford University College. His father, Frank Rushton qv, played cricket for Lancashire 1928-9.

 

Thomas Lever Rushton (1810-1883)                                           Politician and Industrialist                                                    Born 5 September 1810 Churchgate, Bolton                                Died 8 February 1883 Hôtel du Pavillon, Cannes, France  Educated Bolton Grammar School                                              Mayor of Bolton 1848, 1849 (Conservative).                       Owner of Bolton Ironworks. Instigated the construction of the (largely cast iron) municipal Market Hall during his Mayoralty.

 

James Alfred Russell (1973-1948)                                              Politician                                                                                Born 3 July 1873 Darcy Lever, Bolton.                                    Died 22 September 1948 11 Ashbourne Avenue, The Haulgh, Bolton                                                                              Educated Lever Bridge School                                                    Mayor of Bolton 1936.                                                    Started work with William Gray & Son, but then worked for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway for 42 years.                            Presided over the celebrations for the Coronation of King George VI on 12 May 1937.

 

William Russell (1859-1937)                                                    Born 1859 Bolton                                                                   Died 31 October 1937 Bolton                                                  Educated Booth's Academy                                                    MP Bolton 1922-1923 (Conservative)                                      Mayor of Bolton 1921 (Conservative)                                  Solicitor - he worked first as a clerk for Edge & Dawson Solicitors, qualifying as a solicitor in 1887, before opening Russell and Russell Solicitors in Wood Street, Bolton with his brother Walter.

 

Dr Frank Ryan                                                                         Author and Physician                                                               Limerick, Ireland                                                          Thornleigh Salesian College, Bolton; Sheffield University.                Has written crime thrillers including 'Tiger, Tiger', "Goodbye Baby Blue' and a fantasy trilogy 'The Sundered World'. Also written non-fiction popular medicine books such as 'The Eskimo Diet' and 'Tuberculosis - The Greatest Story Never Told'.                                Trained in medicine and was a consultant physician at Bury General Hospital.                                                             Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, member of the New York Academy of Sciences and the British Society of Gastroenterology.

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Jennifer Alexis Ryan (1982-)                                                       English quizzer, singer, television personality                            Born 2 April 1982  Bolton, England                                          One of the chasers on the ITV game show The Chase. In 2019, she competed in the ITV competition series The X Factor: Celebrity, in which she placed third.

 

Ethel Maisie Ryley (1901-1999)                                                Politician                                                                                Born 1 May 1901 Egerton, Turton, Lancashire                              Died 19 February 1999 Macclesfield, Cheshire                      Walmsley School, Turton; Bolton County Grammar School        Mayor of Bolton 1968.                                                           Born Ethel Maisie Bentley. Teacher at Holy Trinity School until 1927.                                                                              The Library at the Chadwick Street campus of Bolton Institute was named after her.

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